Former Doctor Who showrunner Steven Moffat has revealed he does not ‘trust’ the UK government with the BBC.
The screenwriter and producer has a long-standing relationship with the Beeb, having worked with it since the early 1990s on a number of high-profile drama projects.
Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, Dracula and sitcom Joking Apart are among the programmes the 60-year-old has produced for the public service broadcaster.
However, the network’s future is hanging in the balance, with former culture secretary Nadine Dorries announcing a licence fee freeze for two years.
The new culture secretary, Michelle Donelan, recently said she would look at the future of the BBC licence fee ‘in the round’ but described herself as a ‘long-term sceptic’ of the funding model.
Asked about tensions between the BBC and the government, Steven said: ‘Do I trust the BBC in the hands of the government? No, I don’t. The BBC, quite rightly, interrogates everybody.
He jokingly added in an interview with the Radio Times: ‘If you put me in charge of the fates of television critics, I would probably have half of them shot.’

‘It’s the job of the BBC to speak truth to power. You can’t allow power to defund the truth, that’s just not acceptable.
‘You’d have to be an infant not to understand that there’s nothing else like it. It will never be safe in the hands of the government.’
Steven’s new drama Inside Man stars David Tennant and Stanley Tucci and is a co-production between the BBC and Netflix, like his 2020 adaptation of Dracula.
He said: ‘No disrespect to the wonderful BBC, but the money we get from them wouldn’t fund what we’re talking about.

‘It’s not exactly a Marvel feature film, but we needed some money to build a prison, we needed some to build the vicarage.’
Four-part mini-series Inside Man follows a prisoner on death row in the US, a vicar in a quiet English town and a maths teacher trapped in a cellar, as they cross paths in the most unexpected way.